Walter Sisulu University has said that it assumes full responsibility for erroneously deregistering 127 students during the 2020 academic year.
The university said that a number of students were deregistered last year, which it said was an “acceptable practice” in higher education institutes.
“Unfortunately, some students were erroneously academically excluded in the process,” WSU said in a statement.
It said that 30% of the derigestered students were later reinstated.
“Moreover, the University is aware that some student financial records continue to reflect amounts due despite deregistration.
“The latter results from an unfortunate system backlog caused by delays esuing from the Covid-19 national lockdown.
“The WSU student fees system debits student fees on an annual as opposed to a monthly basis, and the lockdown has slowed the process of crediting deregistered students accordingly.”
The university offered an unqualified apology to all those affected and said they were actively assiting students on a case-by-case basis to rectify the issue. An instutional meeting was held on Monday to seek solutions to student concerns, followed a meeting between WSU management and the SRC on Tuesday.